Being an urban chicken consultant means encountering a lot of unusual chicken health conditions. I recently heard from James and Sarah. Their pullet Ruby had an odd condition: the toes were curled up on one of her feet, and Ruby was having trouble walking.
“She couldn’t put any weight on her feet. Whenever she tried to walk and put pressure on that foot, she would sort of slip and fall,” James told me. He had tried Googling her symptoms but was unable to find information on her exact condition.
I realized that Ruby was suffering from curled toe paralysis, a condition that is caused by a vitamin B2 (Riboflavin) deficiency. The treatment: vitamin B2 drops and a splint for the affected area. James isolated her from the other hens and gave her a few drops every day.
“It took her about 3 weeks to a month to recover, but she’s healed,” James reports. “She’s walking normally and her foot doesn’t bother her at all.”
James offers kudos for Home to Roost: “Jen’s service was great. Seeing how she handled hens gave us more confidence to help Ruby out. Jen was able to tell us what was wrong and what our options would be. This is our first time keeping chickens, and having her help and knowledge was really useful!”
Here is a lovely “after” photo of Ruby, with toes uncurled!
Home to Roost 
Posted by Edith Bray-Menezes on December 14, 2021 at 11:32 am
My chicken has a similar thing how did you splint the foot?
Posted by chickenwoman on December 14, 2021 at 11:45 am
I placed wooden popsicle sticks along the underside of the lengths of the toes, being careful to prevent splinter, and carefully wrapped with gauze/vet wrap. It’s important not to reduce circulation to the toes.
Posted by abiganali on September 7, 2022 at 5:53 pm
How long did you splint her leg for? Did you keep the point on even while she slept? My 5 month old is having the same issue.
Posted by Kazumi on November 25, 2022 at 8:15 am
A picture of the splint would be nice.
Posted by chickenwoman on November 25, 2022 at 8:48 am
I’m sorry I didn’t get one. I believe I padded the toes and then used popsicle sticks running down each to to straighten them out. Then more padding and some medical tape or vet wrap. If you try this, make sure that the circulation to the toes is not cut off or reduced. If they look puffy or red, take off the splints/wrap immediately.
Posted by Rachel on January 2, 2023 at 1:55 pm
How old was Ruby when you started her treatment? One of my 12 week old pullets has that on one foot, she is the only one too.
Posted by chickenwoman on January 2, 2023 at 3:14 pm
She was pullet, probably a little older than yours.
Posted by Tina Hove on March 29, 2023 at 12:18 pm
Hi Friends! I have a similar issue going on. Beckie is an easeter egger and shes 8 months all of a sudden she was falling backwards sitting on her butt kind of and hobbling around, so I brought her in, thinking that she hurt her right leg or something. So then the next day, she was worse. so I found a specialty vet – b/c normal vets here in Wisconsin apparently don’t take chickens. so I went to an “aviation” vet – her legs arn’t broken. her chemistry pannel came back JUST FINE so I have a hard time think shes vitamin deficent, but shes been on antibiotics &pain pills for 5 days now and shes perked up and can move her feet, but she can not stand or balance. So I got the vitamin B liquid and syringe fed her something morning…her toes curling under both feet but she can move them and she tries. Thoughts? waiting on the other blood pannel to come back from UW-Madison. clearly its something w/ the siatic nerve that is making her not be able to balance or walk. but shes eating and drinking and seems very content being a house chicken. the dog is not thrilled haha help?
Posted by chickenwoman on March 29, 2023 at 12:25 pm
HI! I’m sorry you’re having so much trouble with Beckie. At that age, and with those symptoms, it might be Marek’s disease. A vet would have to formally diagnose. I believe there is a PCR test they can do to determine if she’s been exposed, but only a complete necropsy can diagnose.
Posted by Chris on April 8, 2023 at 8:42 am
We had chickens years back and just received 25 Tuesday and one RI Red had 1 splayed leg and curled toes on that leg. We hobbled her since Wednesday. We just changed out hobble from a nicely designed fuzzy pipe cleaner to vet wrap yesterday, but I just made a tiny light weight cardboard sandal for her foot yesterday also. She is eating and drinking good and has electrolytes, vitamin and probiotics in water.
When we changed the hobble to vet wrap yesterday (because I didn’t have any at first) her legs appeared to be more normal, but the toes were a problem until I put sandal on she almost looked relieved.
However she does not put weight on it much. It’s only been not even a full day so I’m hopeful. Should I do therapy with her?
She’s in about a 14” cardboard box with paper towel bottom and have noticed the foot slide when she crouches. I thought of rubber shelf liner, but I think it may be to sticky like crepe soles for humans.
Any thoughts? Just be patient and give it a few days? Short therapy for a minute a few times a day? Poor lil Miss Penny. She’s so tiny. Maybe no cardboard and vet wrap on toes? I used small straps of clear medical tape to hold toes to cardboard. Thank you for all your help.
Posted by chickenwoman on April 13, 2023 at 6:02 pm
Hi, Chris –
Apologies for the delayed response. I’ve been swamped!
How is she doing? Try giving her a cloth box liner (towel, washcloth, etc.). They can do ok with curled toes, but a leg out of place can be a challenge. Is the issue perhaps a slipped hock joint tendon? Do you have access to an avian vet who can have a look at her?
Posted by Chris on April 15, 2023 at 6:51 pm
Well, we tried. We got her on 4/4 was told by store owner one chick had splayed leg. We hobbled with fuzzy pipe cleaner. The leg came back in line, but the toes on that leg were still curled. We made a sandal and took it off and seemed better and then the balance problem started where she couldn’t stay upright. No gray eyes. We then tried the jar method and made a hammock to try a bit of physical therapy and even added water to food. She really tried hard to keep eating, we kept her warm with a temp controlled seed heating mat and quiet relaxing music. She just wasn’t active enough and seemed to give up. It’s sad, but Miss Penny passed away.
We have never lost a chick before and so far we lost 4 of RIRs. I’m thinking this is from bad incubation by breeder, genetics of this flock or just problems with Rhode Island Reds in general. They seemed so much more frail then the Dominiques that were a few days older and separated from RIRs. It’s been a sad start with RIRs indeed. There isn’t much time to waste in getting them help and we do have a bird lady in WI and I probably should have found her number.
Hopefully the rest will survive as they are getting feathers now. This crazy weather from 90s for a week to now snow is difficult to regulate temperatures.
Thanks for replying.
Posted by chickenwoman on June 25, 2023 at 10:34 pm
I’m so sorry you lost her but glad you tried. Sometimes they just don’t make it, but it’s always hard. It’s hard to say what was wrong – bad breeding stock, incubation, good old failure to thrive… I hope the rest are doing ok!
Posted by Laura on April 19, 2023 at 5:05 pm
I have a hen that is almost 7 months old with curled toes. She gets around, but not as well as the other hens. She’s always had an upright penguin like stance, so I don’t think her stance is caused by being egg bound, or anything else that would typically make a hen go downhill fast. It was just suggested to me that her stance is from her crooked toes. Is it too late to fix? Also she doesn’t appear to be laying yet, not sure if that’s connected.
Thank you so much!
Posted by chickenwoman on April 20, 2023 at 9:02 am
Regarding the stance I’m not sure what might cause that. Have you looked at the possibility of Marek’s disease, which usually manifests in the age range of this bird?
In case it is a vitamin deficiency, I would try a multi-vitamin supplement, such as Poultry Cell, to add riboflavin and Vitamin C to the diet. Make sure you are feeding a balanced diet appropriate for the birds’ age (starter, grower, layer). [please note that I’m not a vet, and this advice is not diagnosis or treatment]
Posted by Nicole Pullen on July 10, 2023 at 5:27 pm
Is it possible for curly toe syndrome to reoccur? We have a 7 year old Isa Brown who had it or we think. We kept “quiet” inside and after splinting and feeding B2 drops, 4 weeks later she’s been able to walk again.
It’s been 2 weeks and we’ve woken up to her toes curled over again and she can’t walk.
She keeps trying to get up so she can move her legs. Any thoughts on what might be happening with Quiet?
Posted by chickenwoman on July 10, 2023 at 5:49 pm
Hi, Nicole –
I’m not sure what is going on with Quiet – it might be a genetic issue caused by the breeding stock that you will have to monitor and treat as needed.
If you’ve discontinued the B2/riboflavin, you might want to start again.
Here are some thoughts from Poultry DVM that make sense to me for long-term/recurrent curly toes:
During warm weather, provide supplemental sources of riboflavin. Store feed in a sealed plastic container located away from direct sunlight. Fermenting feed significantly increases the proportion of riboflavin present. (See more at: https://poultrydvm.com/condition/curly-toed-paralysis)
You might also check out https://holistic-hen.blogspot.com/2016/05/cure-curled-toe-paralysis-in-poultry.html.
Keeping some foods that are rich in B2 (riboflavin) would be helpful to her. She can eat them as needed. If that does not help, there may be something else going on.
I hope that helps your girl!
Jennifer
Posted by Sarah on July 24, 2023 at 1:08 am
Hi, thanks for your post. Found my girl (4 months, blue gem) flopped over in the run a few nights ago. Thought it was an injury but noticed both feet had cured toes. Couldn’t even stand up and walk. Also heat stressed and dehydrated from not getting what she needed that day. We brought her in the garage in a dog crate. She’s eating and drinking (have chick electrolytes), perking up, even laying (what!?) but still struggling to get around. We splinted last night with little cardboard pieces for each toe and then a cardboard piece underneath. She can kind of walk now, but barely, and she’s mostly putting her weight on her hocks. So my question is, should I splint the leg too? If so, how? I’m kind trying to help her walk so she can regain function. Also how often should I change the splint (since it’s cardboard and it gets occasionally wet?) waiting on vitamin b drops to arrive day after tomorrow. Thank you!!
Posted by chickenwoman on July 24, 2023 at 9:21 am
Given her age, and the fact that she was flopped over in the run and the hock sitting, I’d suspect something neurological – Mareks is my first guess, or lymphoid leukosis, spondylolisthesis (https://www.uoguelph.ca/ahl/diagnosing-neurologic-disease-backyard-chickens). You can continue to treat as a vitamin deficiency, but if she does not improve and loses weight, I would suggest culling and submitting for necropsy.
Posted by Sarah on July 25, 2023 at 6:24 am
Ok 😦 Thank you. If it was Mareks, I should expect to see progressive decline, right? Because she has definitely perked up and is more mobile since bringing her in and our funny splint job. Don’t most hatcheries vaccinate for Mareks? I need to look up the other diseases you mentioned. Decided to take off her cardboard splint today and put on another with vetwrap and popsi sticks and her toes are still very curled. She will stand off her hock on left side but still leaning on hock on right. Anybody have any luck with the little dog shoes or the chicken splints you can buy online?
Posted by chickenwoman on July 25, 2023 at 12:07 pm
Marek’s can manifest as transient paralysis – it may come and go. Hatcheries do not vaccinate all birds (you have to request in most cases), and the vaccine (like the flu vaccine) is not effective against all strains. I’ve used popsicle sticks with padding to prevent pressure sores.
Posted by Heather on July 24, 2023 at 9:00 pm
How much do you give a Chicken?
Posted by chickenwoman on July 24, 2023 at 9:11 pm
It depends on the weight. Here is a link from PoultryDVM with dosing: https://poultrydvm.com/condition/curly-toed-paralysis
You can ask a vet or pharmacist to help you convert the riboflavin you have to the correct amount to give your bird (or do the math yourself, if you’re a math whiz!).
Posted by Kelly Hoover on August 2, 2023 at 9:16 am
I have a 20 week old hen that I’m sure has curly toe paralyses. It happened very suddenly overnight. I separated her and started her on rooster booster poultry cell. One foot is definitely worse than the other. She is able to hold on to the roost with her good foot. She try’s with the other. She is eating and drinking. I haven’t seen any other hen’s affected; but I am treating others in their water. I have been trying to splint with popsicle sticks and get wrap, which is difficult. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Over 50 years of chickens, and have never dealt with this.
Posted by chickenwoman on August 2, 2023 at 9:21 am
I’m sorry you’re dealing with this. I suggest checking out this post from PoultryDVM for additional info and treatment: https://poultrydvm.com/condition/curly-toed-paralysis
Posted by Michelle on March 26, 2024 at 3:52 pm
hi there, I have a 12 week old Brahma.
Her toe originally was switched under her foot. I moved it out using tape when she was a week old.
Her foot as she gets older is twisting in towards her other leg and her toes not spreading out. She has swelling under it and it’s quite tender.
she can walk but I’m not sure at to do to help her or if u can help her.
looking for advice please ❤️
Posted by chickenwoman on March 26, 2024 at 3:59 pm
Hello, and thanks for reaching out. Would you like to schedule a Zoom consultation? I will send you an email as well.
Posted by Courtney on May 14, 2024 at 9:31 pm
is this something that presented itself very quickly? Did you notice any swelling associated with this? How long did it take until you noticed any signs of improvement?
thanks in advance,
CA
Posted by chickenwoman on May 14, 2024 at 9:39 pm
Hi, Courtney, This condition is diet related, so it usually happens over time. There is no associated swelling. Symptoms generally go away gradually as the vitamin builds up in the body.